Rock-drill



T. TURNER.

ROCK DRILL.

1 APPLICATION FILED APR. 4, 1913.

1,889,589. Patented Aug. 30, 1921.

2 SHEETSSHEET I.

WITNESSES wiwwwb 4 TTTTTT EY UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

THOMAS TURN OF OTTUMWA, IOWA, ASSIG-NOR- '10 HARDSOGG WONDER DRILLCOMPANY, OF OTTUMWA, IOWA.

noon-DRIL Application filed April 4,

specification.

This invention has reference to pneumatic rock drills of the valvelesstype, and its object is to provide means whereby live air may be usedfor cleaning the bore, produced by the drill bit, of chips or debrisoccurring in the drilling operation.

The superiority of the Valveless drill over the valve drill-is wellknown because of its fewer parts, and for that reason, less breakage andlower cost of upkee as well as economy of air consumption, since thevalve type of drills exhausts the aif from each end of the piston bothon its striking and return stroke, while in the valveless type, the airthat is used to return the" piston is also employed in the strikingstroke and is exhausted only from one end of the piston.

My invention is concerned solely with drills of the valveless type.

The invention comprises features whereby the live air is taken directlyfrom a throttle valve down through the Wall of the cylinder of thehammer to a chamber which directly connects with the hollow drill bitandleads into the bore produced bythe bit so as to blow out drillcuttings which interfere with the drilling operation. The constructionis such that the blowing out may occur coincidently with the drillingoperation or independently thereof, and permits either conwill of theoperator.

stant cleaning or occasional cleaning at the To those who are familiarwith the difficulty of cleaning out a very deep or muc hole thisinvention will ap eal at. once. It as been proposed to use ex aust airfor this purpose, but it is impossible to get the same results fromexhaust air as with live air. cludes certain other features of thestructure of the drill as will hereinafter, appear.

. The invention will .be best understood from a consideration of thefollowing detailed description taken in. connection with theaccompanying drawings forming part of this specification, with theunderstanding,

" however, that the invention. is not confined to any strictconformity'with the showing Specification of Letters Patent."

The invention also in- 1918. Serial No. 226,754.

of the drawings but may be changed and modified so long as such changesand modi- -fications"mark no material departure from the salientfeatures of the invention as expressed in the appended claims.

In the drawings Figure 1 is an elevation of the drill structure asviewed from the air valve side.-

Fig.2 is a section on. the line 2-2 of Fig. 1, butdrawn on a largerscale.

F ig. 3 is a section on the line 3-3 of ig. 3* is a section'on the line33 of Fig. 2.

Fig. 4 is a section on the line 4-4 of Fig. 2, distant parts beingomitted.

Fig. 5 is a section on the line 5-5 of Fig. 2, but'omitting distantparts.

Fig. 6 is a detail elevation of a portion of the drill structure.

h Fig. 7 is a bottom plan view thereof.

Figs. 8, 9 and 10 are cross sections of the air valve and adjacent partsillustrating different positions of the valve.

Fig. 11 is a perspective view of a drill holding yoke. I

Referringto the drawings, there is shown a body member 1 constituting acasing or Patented Aug. 30, 1921.

cylinder for a reciprocatory hammer piston 2. One end of the hammerpiston 2 is entered by a rifle member 3 designed to obtain progressiverotation of the hammer piston as The end of the'hammer piston 2 remotefrom the rifle part 3 is of non-circular'outline,' preferably square, asindicated at 4, particularly in Figs. 3 and 5. The square end 4 of thehammer piston Q'ente'rs an axial square front chamber 5 in one end of asleeve or bushing 6 mounted in a carrying member 7 forming the drill bitend of the 'drill body.

ixtending lengthwise of the inner walls,

preferably on opposite walls of the frontchamber, 5 aregrooves 8 havinga purpose which will hereinafter appear.

The member 7 has formed on or fast to it midway of its lengthoutstanding ears 9 on diametrically opposite sides traversed by guiderods 10 extending lengthwise of the drill body and at the upper endstraversing and fast to other ears 11. At the lower end of the member 7is an outstanding flange 12 which may be of generally rectangular form,and near opposite corners is provided with recesses 13, two of theserecesses being on one side of the flange and two being on the oppositeside thereof, for a purpose which will hereinafter appear.

Surrounding the member 7 about the flange 12 is a collar 14 free toslide on the body member 7 and held away from the ears 9 by a coilspring 15 also surrounding the member 7. The collar 14 is provided withdiametrically opposite trunnions 16 from which hang the legs 17 of ayoke 18, which yoke, at an intermediate point, is formed into an openeye or loop 19 to embrace a drill bit 20 having a butt end 21 ofnon-circular shape extending axially through the sleeve 6 and enteringthe passage or cavity 5. The drill bit has an axial duct 22 extendingthroughout its length from end to end.

Attached to one side of the body 1 by stud bolts or'screws 23 is a plate24 having an offset or boss 25 on its outer face, in which offset thereis formed a taper seat 26 for a taper valve 27 held in the seat by ascrew plug 28 engaging the larger end of the taper valve 27 The smallend of the valve has a continuation 29 to which there is applied amanipulating handle 30 whereby the valve may be turned about itslongitudinal axis at will.

Extending through the offset or boss 25 is a passage 31 intercepted bythe valve 27, and the outer end of the passage is counterbored and screwthreaded. as shown at 32, for the reception of a suitable coupling toattach air hose to the drill structure. The inner end of the passage 31opens through a port 33 into an annular air supplying chamber 34 bymeans of which air is distributed to other ports 35 communicating withthe interior of the hammer piston 2 for the purpose of directing airunder pres sure 1n .a manner to cause reciprocation of the hammerpiston. Since this action and the structure by means of which it isbrought about does not form a part of this invention and is well known,no particular showmg or description thereof is deemed necessary. Theexhaust port .of the drill structure is indicated at 36.

The taper valve plug 27 has a port 37 extending diametricallytherethrough and one end of this port, as shown at 38, is widenedeccentrically relative to the port. Branched off at an acute angle tothe port or passage 37 1s another port or passage 39 which joins theport 37 on the side opposite from where the enlargement 38 is provided.Vithin the boss 25 there is formed a duct 40 communicating with a duct41 in the body of the drill, which duct 41 opens into a distributingchamber 42 also in the body of the drill and communicating by means ofthe annular channel 42 with the passages 8. The ducts 40 and. 41 form.in effect, a single duct whereby live air may be directed to thedistributing chamber 42 and travel therefrom through the channel 42 andthe passages 8 to the chamber 5 where it finds ready access to the duct22 and out through the cutting end of the drill bit.

\Vhen the valve 27 is in the position shown in Fig. 8 the ports 37 and39 are cut off from the ducts 31 and 40and hence the drill is inactive.\Vhen the valve plug 27 is turned to the position shown in Fig. 3", liveair passes directly to the distributing chamber 34 and the hammer pistonis caused to reci r rocate in the usual manner, delivering blows to thedrill bit and thereby causing the latter to cut into the rock with whichit is in engagement. Ultimately the drill hole hecomes more or lessfilled with chips, dust and other debris which correspondingly reducethe effectiveness of the drill bit. Ifnow the valve plug 27 be moved tothe position shown in Fig; 10, live air is cut off fromthe drill pistonso that its action will stop, but live air finds its way through thepassage 37 which is at'the time cut off from the passage 31, and by thebranch passage 39 air enters the duct 40 and passes through the duct 41into the chamber 42 and flows into the chamber 5 by way of the channel42" and the passages 8. From the chamber 5 the air passes through theduct 22 and out through the cutting end of the drill bit into the boreformed by the drill bit, thereby blowing out from such bore thecuttings, dust, etc. This cleanses the'bore, thus greatly facilitatingthe action of the drill bit. The use of live air is particularlyefficacious because of the heavy pressure it is under and the vigorousaction it has upon the cuttings and other debris, forcibly ejecting suchmaterial from the drill hole even when the latter is deep.

If it be desired to maintain the drill bit in action and at the sametime blow out the cuttings, etc, the valve 27 is moved to a positionsimilar to that shown in Fig. 9, whereupon live air flows to theinterior of the drill structure to operate the reciprocatory piston2'and at the same time flows to the drill bit to eject cuttings from thedrill hole. The relative action of the air for these two simultaneousoperations may be regulated at the will of the operator by theadjustment of the valve 27.

The operator has therefore under control the action of the drill in theordinary manher and either the intermittent cleansing of the drill holeor the continuous cleansing of the drill bit.

The invention is particularly useful in drilling in damp and muckyground, for

then it becomes necessary to clean out the h0le,otherwise the drill bitwould become clogged and stick inthe hole, thus causing considerablediflicultyand delay.- The invention is especially adapted for cleaningout deep holes. It is advantageous to have the hammer piston running ina modified manner while the drilled material accumulating in the hole isbeing blown out.

vThe manner of mounting the bit retainer spring is advantageous in thatthere is no possiblity of a mistake in applying the legs 17 to the drillbit, since a l'egmust always engage one or the other of'the recesses 13.

oreover, a double wearing surface is pro vided which arrangement is notfound in the ordinary drill. My invention is distinguished from othersin that the striking end of the piston is made solid, the air to cleanout thedrill hole being carried around the piston end not through thepiston as 'in prior art structures.

What is claimed is:-

1 A pneumatic drill having a piston responsive to air under pressure, adrill bit with an air duct leading through it and discharging at thecutting end of the drill bit, a main duct for directing live air to thepiston of the drill, a branch'duct connected to the first named duct andleading to the drill bit,'and a manually operable valve for controllingthe flow of air to the piston and to the bit, said valve being solidaxlally and having a main through transverse port enlarged at one end tocommunicate with the inlet-end of the main duct, and a branch transverseport leading off from the first named port in acute angular relation tothe wide end thereof, the branch po'rt having communication with thebranch duct, said valve being operable to bring the first named portinto coincidence with the main duct to direct live air to the piston,orto bring the branch port into coincidence with the branch duct todirect live air to the drill bit, or to bring both ports intocoincidence with both ducts simultaneously to direct live air to boththe piston and the drill, and in the lat- .ter case with the flow of airto the piston reduced. I v

2. A pneumatic drill provided with a main live air duct leading to thepiston of the drill,'a live air duct branched from the first named ductin substantially right angular relationthereto and leading to the drill,bit, a valve interposed in the ducts which -valve has a throughtransverse port expanded at one end eccentrically relative to' the portanda branch transverse port-in acute angular relation to where joining,

gular in the wide end of the first named port, wherey movement of thevalve .on its longitudinal axis will first bring the main port intoco-incidence with the main duct to direct live air to the piston, thenbring both ports into coincidence with both ducts simultaneously todirect live air to both piston and the drill with the amount of air fedto the piston reduced and finally the branch port into coincidence withthe branch duct to direct-live air to thedrill bit with said live airshut oil from the piston.

3. In a pneumatic drill of the valveless type, the combination with acylinder and hammer piston, of a drill bit having a passagetherethrough, a chamber at an intermediate point of the cylinder havingimperforate walls, said chamber being rectancross section and receivingthe front end of the piston which works therein and the rear'end of thedrill bit, the front end of the piston being of a shape in cross sectionto fit the chamber, longitudinal grooves provided in the walls'of thechamber and disposed along the outside of the piston and directlycommunicating with the passage in the drill bit by means of the chamber,a main live air duct leading from the side of the cylinder to the pistonat an intermediate point of the latter, the front portion of the pistonbeing solid,'a branch live air duct leading from the main duct to thesaid' grooves,- and a valve located at the junction end of the drill bitand the front end of the piston which works therein, longitudinalgrooves provided in the walls of the chamber and disposed along theoutside of the piston and directly communicating with the passageofthedrill bit by means of the chamber, said piston having itsfront end solidand traversing the front chamber without filling said grooves, a mainair duct leading from the side of the cylinder to the piston in rear ofthe front solid end of the piston, a branch live air duct leading fromthe main, du'ct in advance of the latter and delivering live air to thegrooves arpund the piston, and a valve for controlling the passage oflive air to the main and branch ducts. 5. In a pneumatic drill of thevalveless type, the combination with a cylinder-and a hammer piston, ofadrill bit having a passage therethrough, said piston having its frontend'solid, a main live air duct leading from the side of the cylindertothe piston in rear of thefront solid end, a branch livel ao 'air ductlocated in advance of the main liveair duct and leading from said mainair duct, means communicating with the branch live-air duct fordelivering live air around the front end of the piston directly to thepassage of the drill bit, and a valve for controlling the passage oflive air to thetmain and branch ducts.

6. A pneumatic drill comprising a casing having a plurality of chambers,including an air supplying chamber, a distributing chamber, and a frontchamber, the last two mentioned chambers communicating with each otherby means of an annular channel, the side walls of the front chamberhaving longitudinal grooves which communicate at their rear ends withthe distributing chamber by means of said channel, a drill bit providedwith a passage therethrough and having its rear end projecting withinthe front end of the front chamber, the passage in said drill bitcommunicating with the front ends of said grooves by'means of the frontchamber, a hammer piston solid from its front end rearwardly for aportion of its length, said front end being of a shape in cross sectionto work Within the distributing and front chambers without filling thesaid grooves or said channel, a main live-air duct leading from one sideof the casing to the interior of the piston in rear of the solid frontend of the latter, a branch live-air duct leading from the main duct tothe distributing chamber, and a manually operated valve for controllingthe passage of live air to said ducts.

In testimony, that I claim the foregoing as my own, have hereto aflixedmy signature in the presence of two witnesses.

THOMAS TURNER.

Witnesses:

GEORGE W. ADAMS, F. M. ROGERS.

